filter + muffler = faster?

[spec-v5150]

Well if you just want sound (which sounds like you do) Just get a cheap ebay muffler. If you want performance dont slouch. I mean I dont recommend exspensive catbacks, but even if you are going to get custom piping, get a header. May as well finish the cycle

[sohc90adel]

DO NOT!!!!! Get an ebay muffler you will regret it so bad get a name brand muffler with the same diameter inlet as your piping. Dont go any bigger than 2.25 unless your getting turbo. Definatly get the headers and intake. You will do nothing without it. Get also the high flow cat. go all out or dont do anything at all.

[Yorb]

Thanks Spec. =)

I like the look of dual pipes (my SE has sexy little tip covers stock), but you can't get an A'pexi N1 Dual without the whole shebang, right? Which puts it up at $600 or so plus I/H. Bleh. Well maybe I'd go with a dual Megan, seems like a happy medium at $100.

Oh well, class time (ah yes, where my money is ACTUALLY going). I appreciate you guys' input. =)

EDIT: Whoa, okay SOHC. So name-brand for a 240SX includes what, A'pexi and HKS? Any others I should check out?

Also, is the high-flow cat something that the muffler shop includes with the piping? Does that need to be name-brand too? =/ And when you say don't go bigger than 2.25 (I agree with you), do you mean inlet or tip?

[offtheline]

If you do what you are talking about, you will get a really sweet and powerful sounding car. It may have a bit better throttle response and you may trick yourself into really thinking your car is faster, but chances are good that its not going to be much faster. It is probably going to make you feel good about your car and not much more. Most people like that feeling and are willing to fork over hundreds in cash for it.

[Yorb]

Festino - Many people are willing to fork over quite a bit of cash for some stickers, too. ;D

So if I really wanted a faster 240, I should basically go for a turbo, right? I don't think I wanna do that, seeing as I know nothing about engines, not to mention the fact that I don't know how much longer it will last in the first place.

[SloMoe]

dun dun dun dun dun rice boy

Might wanna watch what you say, you too have got an intake, exhaust and cool, blue headlights

[APEXi240]

Only reason I got an exhaust was because mine broke (truck tire tread+lowered car=cracked exhaust piping and half a front bumper). If I didn't crack it, I wouldn't have upgrade the exhaust. The money would have been much better spent on saving for an LSD.

An exhaust on an unmodified car really won't do all that much. This kid I know ran a mid 12s with stock exhaust and built motor in an Integra.

[sohc90adel]

just go to the muffler shop, tell them what you want, if you want it loud they will give you loud. the trick is to get a a less restrictive flow through your exhause but not to much, thats why i used 2.25 piping, of course you should get the muffler with 2.25 inlet. just tell the guys what you want i got a street series muffler from magnaflow(i love it) its quiter than stock at idle but you can hear it pretty weel after 5000 rpm, but never is it so loud that i wanted to kill myself, however i did make the mistake of getting an ebay muffler and seriously its just not good! so loud it got annoying and i couldnt even hear my music. They make mufflers that are straight through and make very minimal noise. As for not going faster than stock exhaust that is not true. you wiull feel a diffrence especially in the higher rpms. but you have to get everything intake headers piping cat. I even put a resonator on mine to make it extra quiet. i wish i could send some sort of sound.

[SloS13]

Compared to some of these guys, i dont know very much about motors either and ive managed to turbo 2 cars. Only way you're gonna be fast is a TON of all-motor work, or turbo or nitrous.

I like my $65 Dynomax Ultra-Flow muffler

[sohc90adel]

you wanna be fast, just get a nice 40 shot of nitrous and dont change a thing. when you beat people and they ask you what you got just say nothing, im all stock.

[lbrowne]

I have a cheap intake adapter with a cone filter on it.

I have a test pipe ordered to replace my leaky cat, and will be getting a piece of pipe to replace the restrictive resonator. The regular muffler is staying for now, and maybe replaced next spring with a IMCO oem style more free flowing muffler...

But I'm with sohc90adel, don't spend all kinds of money for those mods because you'll be no faster than the guy next to you who went the cheaper route. Even if theres a marginal horsepower difference - you the driver - would make all the difference in that scenario.

Now if you're talking turbo....

[droptopsilvia]

yourbody can only feel an increase of 7+ HPby the seat of the pants dyno....intake alone...wont feel(+5hp) it but will hear and feel the added breathing

exhaust alone...really doesn't do much (3-5hp)unless your bringing in more air to get out.

intake+muffler(why?) aside from the noise and slight increase of power from the intake you just wasted your money.

intake+full exhaust considering you should gain at least 10hp from this setup you will be able to notice the increase of power and torque throughout the powerband.

headers will give you a little more, but if your going turbo, dont waste your money.

[SloS13]

another way to look at it, is if you put on a loud exhaust on an otherwise stock car, people with the cars that are actually fast will torment you on the road....at least thats what i do. hahaha

[Yorb]

Yeah I agree with all of this. (And thanks Droptop for the explanation.)

I'm just looking to add a few horsepower and a nice sound without messing with stuff that I'm not familiar with (the engine). So currently I'm thinking:

AEM short ramPaceSetter headers (probably not right away)2.25" Custom piping and high-flow catAftermarket muffler (Megan? Magnaflow? HKS? A'pexi?)

What effect does the tip size have, besides looking ricier? Adel, I looked at the Magnaflow site, and they have some nice mufflers (dual 3" stainless specifically). I'm with you on the noise thing, I'm more into audio than performance (I've put $1000 into sound, $50 into rice, and $0 into performance). Magnaflow seems to tout the nice but comparatively QUIET sound, which is good. At around $150 they seem to be pretty mid-range too.

However, this is all just fantasizing and I'm not going to run out to the garage right now. Though I may grab the intake.

Thanks for the help, and I still read the thread so if you have more thoughts I'm all ears. =)

EDIT: Muffler brands. What are the favorite brands for the 240SX? A'pexi and HKS, I know. Borla? Raven? Dynomax? Magnaflow? HELP ME! =)

[sohc90adel]

Yorb,

i think that the dual tips makes the muffler louder i got a 4inch single tip with 2.25 inlet and it cost me 90 bucks at a muffler shop installed here in puerto rico. I suggest that you go to a muffler shop and ask them what they think. Magnaflow are good quality mufflers but there were other which i liked more but could not afford. I wanted a muffler with straight through design but with no noise. those mufflers would go into the 125-140 range. I dont remember the brands, but i am happy with my magnaflow. I myself am into sound too and with the ebay muffler i bought it was easy to listen to music but i also was going to be deaf. Competing with the muffler was easy because i myself have spent a good amount of money on sound too but really not good for my ears. Once i put the magnaflow it was like heaven on earth. so yeah you should be able to go to a muffler shop and get whatever you want. I suggest you get the pacesetter headers before you go to the muffler shop. you will have to adjust some things to make it fit and they have the tools to do it. Its easier for them and it only cost me 20 bucks, believe me its worth it. they can also feel leaks and fix them on the spot. Again i am really happy with my setup and i would challenge anyone with the same mods with diffrent companies, its all the same! tubes are tubes... but also dont expect big hp gains, you will feel a differance but not drastic. It is a good setup for nitrous, that is gonna be my next mod. hope this helps...

[sohc90adel]

btw the best mods i have done are definatly the ACT street clutch and Helical LSD

Torque(act) and Grip(lsd)= happiness

[matchstyc]

I bought a Megan Racing Catback exhaust off of ebay and i was really skeptical but it turned out to be really nice. The welding work was really clean and it fit right in perfect. The Stainless is high grade and the tone is really deep too.

[Bbill528]

http://www.e3racing.com i got my AEM there for $140 SHIPPED.

[Yorb]

Sweet! I get some PayPal error page though when I click the Add to Cart thing, it's like, the recipient of this shopping cart is not a valid shopping cart user or something. =/

[lbrowne]

Not to hijack this thread but, sohc90adel I was wondering how you found that pacesetter header.

They get bashed quite a bit on this site especially by people who never had one before....how do you find it and how was the install?

[SkillaSX]

where can you get an aem for 150??? also Rockenreno where did you find the dual n1 for 500??? i want to hear those things ssoooo bad.

anyone know where i can hear these at clip wav. or something???thanks

sound clip eh???

Here you go http://www.zilvia.net/faqs/faqs.asp

[r34 gtr]

go the "im dumb and have money at this moment in time" route. spend $1200 on a full stainless nismo cat back. it is the nicest sounding exhaust i have ever heard. i was on the cheap and just got the rear half of the piping with the watermelon launcher exhaust, and went and got some 70mm mandrel bent piping. all i have on it is the cat and i can barely hear the exhaust. its really low and deep. all my car friends brag about the sound of it. thats when you know you got a good one.

- tim

[Guffed]

First of all: "and maybe headers?"

240's are 4 cylinders...only one header my friend. Sorry that just bugs me when people use the word headers when refuring to a 4 cylinder. Also, yeah, a filter will do *some* performance...But I doubt you will be able to notice it if so at all, and a muffler wont do anything...Full exhaust and intake and you will get around 10-20 horses depending on the make of the parts...If you want fast horsepower, i recomend nitrous or find a cheap engine swap and pump up the boost (get bigger injectors and a fuel pump).

[SloMoe]

First of all: "and maybe headers?"

240's are 4 cylinders...only one header my friend. Sorry that just bugs me when people use the word headers when refuring to a 4 cylinder.

Give the guy a break this isn't English Class.

[Yorb]

It bugs me when people use the word "refuring" when referring to "referring." =/

Sorry, I guess the correct term is header? even though there are four pipes, it's not plural? I thought it might be like pants.

[SloS13]

First of all: "and maybe headers?"

240's are 4 cylinders...only one header my friend. Sorry that just bugs me when people use the word headers when refuring to a 4 cylinder.

correction: In-line 4 A V4 would have headers

Yorb - your intake manifold has 4 pipes, but its not referred to as 'intake manifolds'

[Onizuka]

who ever was saying that any muffler shop can make an exaust as good as a pre-fabricated one.....



the difforence between the welds a low payed muffler man makes and the welds a precision factory machine makes are worlds apart. R & D DOES make a difforence, they design them to not only perform better but SOUND better as well.

If your satisfed with a sub-par exaust system on your car, thats your bag, i would much rather save up and have something that wont rust off in 6 months...

[TurboKA37]

just a little recap of everything that was talked about.

if u want ur exhaust to sound more aggressive while spending the least amount of money, go with a quality muffler to replace ur stock muffler. this will give no noticable performance increase but ur car will sound louder.

if u want some more power have the muffler shop run a larger diameter piping (2.25" is good for NA) from the cat to the new muffler u bought. this set-up will add the noise and slight performance increase.

if u want more power continue with the exhaust by replacing the cat with a high flow cat and also header which will both increase torque and hp along with throttle response.

if more power is wanted and a little more bling factor get a intake. i suggest injen because it has been proven and has the cold air extension if u ever want to upgrade. as i just said if you want to upgrade the cold air extension is always available for the injen intake. upgraded intake and filter will add slight torque/hp and also add a cool deep sucking sound while also improving throttle response.

what i would do: i think intake and exhaust are well over rated. given ur situation id start with some other things first. such as upgraded 300zx fuel filter, underdrive pulley(s), spark plug wires, lighter flywheel and stiffer clutch, possibly aluminum driveshaft, and prolly the muffler with 2.25 mandel bent piping since it seems like u want a louder exhaust tone.

just some things to think about.

[Yorb]

Hmm. Thanks TurboKA. Now I don't know what to do. ;D

I don't JUST want sound, I want some extra horses with it as well, which is why I was planning on a full I/H/E.

I don't know about all that other stuff, most of it I either haven't heard of or have no idea what it does. The fuel filter was recently replaced though (not with a 300ZX one...I don't know what effect that would have).

If anybody else wants to comment on TurboKA's suggestions, please do.

As for intake... I was actually going to ask about that. AEM is cheaper by $25-50. They both claim to be the best, and they seem to be pretty equally distributed over 240SX fans. I do see the advantage of the cold air extension upgrade, but the reason I had opted for a short ram instead of a CAI was because of the whole water thing. The consensus seemed to be that short rams are cheaper and without risk of sucking up any water, and have a very similar performance gain. I don't see myself turning the car into a race machine or anything anytime soon, so I didn't see the point in the added price and damage risk. If you're going to tell me that the Injen is better in other ways, however, I will reconsider.

I also noticed you suggested the intake last. Would you really run the full header and exhaust system before upgrading the intake?

One more question for anyone who either has done this (in the U.S.) or works at a muffler shop: how much do you think it's going to cost to have the header installed with a high-flow cat and muffler and mandrel bent piping? (Exclude prices of the header and muffler).

Reconsidering. =)

[SloS13]

Yorb - I think you might be asking for comments on TurboKA's post because you want somebody to say what you want to hear, and that is that I/H/E will make your car fast. It really wont. It will sound different and MAYBE make it noticably faster. Im a cheap bastard and the thought of spending $140 for a tube and an air filter is crazy. I spent $6 on my air filter. It doesnt have a cool brand name or even look cool, but it filters air. I think turboKA made a good suggestion about the aluminum driveshaft. I havent experimented with switching drifeshafts, but I can almost guarantee you'd feel that a little.

If you're on a budget, getting a hi-flow cat and custom 2.25" exhaust might free up a couple HP and a bit of torque up high. If you want performance but dont want to spend the money, worry about suspension and brakes. I doubt any amount of I/H/E are going to put you where you want to be.

As far as prices for labor...you can do the header yourself. Rest of the labor depends on the shop. My local shop would did 3" exhaust for less than $150 (Excluding muffler $65)

I know it can be exciting getting your first few mods, but if you have only so much money to go around, spend it wisely